by Josh Tappin 
So, you have finally decided to take the plunge and move away from your tired, complicated spreadsheets or your rigid, unforgiving CRM system. Great – Welcome to the world of Salesforce.
Implementing a Salesforce Sales Cloud instance or customizing and adapting is no easy task and shouldn’t be taken lightly. You should be looking to create a scalable system. So that when the business does grow, you don’t have to revisit and re-configure your existing functionality. Unless you are familiar with building Salesforce solutions then we would always recommend using a Partner to help you with this part as the scalability of the system is one of the key pieces to get correct – the first time around.
In this blog, I will hand over my 5 best tips that any business should take on board before making any moves inside the system based on previous projects and personal experience.
1. Assemble Your Squad.
Thinking of doing it alone? That doesn’t sound like much fun & far too much responsibility for one person. You’ll need to pull together a squad of people within the business who are relevant to this project but also who will likely be benefiting from the introduction of the system.
Which teams are going to be inside Salesforce on a day-to-day basis? Sales? Operations? Ideally, a representative from each team is ideal. They will guide you on how they currently work and how they would ideally want to work going forward. Finding solutions to pain points raised by this group of users can be key for adoption so listen closely!
The above group of people usually prove to be invaluable. As they will more than likely end up becoming your ‘Super Users’. They are your word spreaders. You want them to bang the Salesforce drum as loud as possible to their respective teams. Having buy-in from an assortment of people across the business is key – from Sales Directors to Operations Assistants.
And you. Congratulations. You are the Project Manager. Depending on the route you go down, you will be the sole owner of this Project or you’ll be sharing that responsibility with your Salesforce Partner team. Either way – your role is to make sure things run as smoothly as possible. Demolish anything that may stand in the way of progress and deliver this project on time.
2. Setting Goals – For Now & Later
Everyone has goals. Implementing a Sales Cloud instance is no different. Determining what those goals are is one key step toward the best implementation possible. You have already assembled your representatives from across the business so sit them down, lock them in & get ready to manage expectations.
What you are really looking for are the current pain points the teams face on a daily basis. and how can these be addressed inside Salesforce? On the other end of the scale, there could be an existing process that works well and it is just a case of migrating that into the Salesforce system. Before going ahead, have a clear understanding of what a successful implementing of the Salesforce sales cloud looks like now and in a year’s time. This leads me to my next point, prioritisation.
3. Priorities, Priorities & Priorities.
You will be asked to deliver the world and a little bit more without a doubt. Setting expectations and prioritising what you can deliver inside your timeframes is key within your role as the Project Manager.
Look at the requirements which you gathered in your ‘Goal Setting’ phase and assign them into groups of importance. You could have High, Medium or Low priority goals. Equally, you could have Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3 goals. You could even split them out into phases. But the key takeaway is that you will need to make a decision as to what the business sees. As a must-have or non-negotiables versus a nice-to-have. Those non-negotiables will be your main pieces to attack first so regroup with your squad and sign off on your priorities, making it clear that these will be set in stone. Untouchable. No changes. Hands off.
Nick Clark
Chief Strategy Officer
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4. Nail Your Sales Business Process
Are you able to map out the series of steps that take place from the moment a potential customer becomes a customer? Whether it is a very basic document with numbered steps or a flow chart spanning across your screen, get it done as early as possible!
Mapping your current process out not only shows you the strengths of your process but will also very quickly highlight any weaknesses or opportunities for improvement within your process. You are looking to create the most efficient way possible for your users to complete the sales cycle whilst still maintaining your data’s integrity. As mentioned previously, you want your instance to be scalable as your business grows so you have to ensure that the process you configure inside Salesforce is as solid as possible & isn’t going to need a major overhaul when the business grows.
One sticking point that I have seen happen many times is the agreement of the ‘Sales Stages’ that are represented within the system. Again, if these can be mapped out and agreed upon at the very beginning then that’s great but if you are struggling to find a solution then we already have a blog in place, written by our very own Douglas Gardner, titled ‘Opportunity Stages, how to get them right’.
5. Existing Data? Sort it. Now.
Ok, so you have thousands of records of data from your spreadsheets or previous CRM system. Can it be pushed into Salesforce? Yes, however, the real question is, should it?
The last thing you want to do is push a lot of unclean, unused and unworthy data into your brand new, clean and sparkly Salesforce instance. Be picky & be prepared to tidy up your existing data. Yes, this may not the sexiest or most exciting of jobs. But it is a necessary one and one you’ll be very glad of doing. Trying to tidy up incomplete data in Salesforce isn’t fun – trust me.
This is something that you will need to agree upon internally and make sure your project team is taking ownership of. The last thing you want is to fall behind schedule for implementing the Salesforce sales cloud because any data you want to push across isn’t ready.
If you do have any follow-up questions or would like to discuss a potential implementation then please do not hesitate to get in touch with one of our experienced Consultants here at Nebula Consulting.